Way Too Close to 1 Year! ~ Blake 11 Months

Blake/Blakey/Bubba/Big B/Big Bubba/Monster/Mr. Bull,


As you can see your nicknames are getting LONGER :) The Big Bubba comes from being a BIG BROTHER now!!! Can you believe it!? Your parents sure can't :) haha! We have been so used to calling you bubba and now we ask about "bubba" and we catch ourselves saying "big or little bubba" when referring to your or your brother :) That is also where Big B comes from...as opposed to Brody who is Little B. Monster is because you are into EVERYTHING and are walking now and needless to say it is hard to keep up after a monster! Bull because when you crawl you crawl with your head down like a bull would run in a rodeo. HA You can thank Grandma and Peepaw Hall for that one!

My oh My you are getting SO big!! Unfortunately we've been to the doctor a few more times than we'd like to and so I KNOW you weigh about 24lbs! You are NOT chunky son, you are just solid and ALL boy! We think its hilarious that you weigh nearly half of the weight of your 6 year old cousin! I have a feeling you are going to be a strong boy :) Speaking of the doctor, your ears apparently do NOT like to drain and well we've been faced with our 4th ear infection in 4 months :( Poor little man! We will be seeing the ENT here in a week or so to see what they think of all of this!

You were sicky here running a 103 temp :( Poor bubba!

You have been SO much fun to watch this last month as you get bigger and bigger. You CONSTANTLY want to eat your own food...forget feeding you anything! You just recently learned how to eat the squeeze apple sauce! You thought you were pretty cool :) You have quite the appetite....you LOVE chicken..not so much hot dogs anymore... LOVE steamed veggies, you can't get enough of them! You LOVE all kinds of fruit it seems and nilla waffers!

You are walking just about everywhere now. You can pretty much make it from the family room to the office (probably about 20 feet) without falling down! You are still what we like to call a "drunk" baby walker though :). I'm sure you'll have it down by your first birthday! Here are some fun videos of you walking...here, here and here. As videos come up, feel free to check them out on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/user/mitchell81409.

You have 6 teeth still, although I'm pretty sure those first year molars are on their way in because you are constantly holding your mouth and your ears...although it could be those dang ear infections too! Everyone can't get enough of your big blue eyes and just how much you are a mini Dustin/Daddy.

Your biggest life event was becoming a big brother this past month!! I'm pretty sure you had an incling about a baby coming as you would feel mommy's belly when I was pregnant, but when we ask you where your baby brother is, you immediately look to Brody. It is ADORABLE! Usually you get this shy smile on your face when we ask you and either your plotting for how to beat him up later or you already love your baby brother :) You like to take his pacifier and his hats and his blankets and if you see a bottle of his, you think its yours...even though HIS formula will make your tummy sick but you dont think about that! I can't wait to see the relationship you two develop over the months/years to come... I hope you love him and look out for him like any big brother would do :)

Who's under there?!

Heartbreaker...this outfit I found on Etsy for Valentine's day and HAD to have it :) WAY too cute! All the teachers at daycare LOVED it and couldn't get over how cute you were/are!

You had your first happy meal...and go figure they gave you a princess crown :) I'm sure you will kill us one day for taking this picture :)

Aunt Jessica brought you back your VERY own Mickey Mouse ears and doll from Disney World!! You LOVE them :)

Here is mini Dustin :)

Haven't figured out how to make myself move on this thing, but I love getting on and off of it and pushing it around.

Photo booth with mommy!

Mommy and Daddy love you SO SO much! Before you know it you will have a big age of 1!!

XOXO

Brody's Nursery - Bringing Vintage Baseball Back

I have been TRYING to keep this little nursery a secret until it was totally finished...which it is still YET to be completely done (I just have a few little touchups to finish), but I LOVE the way this turned out. Dustin kept complaining how he didn't have much say in Blake's nursery so he probably wouldn't have much of a say in Brody's either. WELL I wanted this to be geared more towards Dustin's love of baseball and mine too! Besides... after having 2 little ones so close together, the last thing I wanted was a really baby baby nursery simply for the fact of having to update it later.

Hope you enjoy! Most of the elements in this room were handmade or refinished with the help of some VERY dear friends! Thank you to Joe & Charlene Johnson for painting and installing the wainescoting...Jessica B for all your help with the crib, the dresser, designing the room etc...and Jessica's family friend for making the benchseat cushion! It added JUST the extra touch to the room :)

The room looks COMPLETELY different with the wainescoting. We ended up saving a few extra dollars by not placing the flat boards behind the vertical boards. 

This crib was given, yes GIVEN, to us by a generous familiy who heard that we were having "Irish twins" and thought we could use it more. It was originally an off-white color and was very girly, but with a good coat of gray paint, it fits in perfectly!! I just love the way it turned out! I found the crib bedding on Etsy by Sweet Dreams Bedding. Kelly had made a similar set previously and that is where I found my inspiration for the vintage baseball theme.

I found the name decal on Etsy as well by Bwordy. They originally had some other stuff around the name, but they were able to customize it to what I was looking for. I LOVE it against the blue wall!

The dresser was found at the Arc thrift store. It was a heinous shiny black paint. It also came with a mirror but I let them keep it :) I wanted something that looked like a locker of some sort so Jessica and I came up with the painted numbers on the drawers. It really adds that extra touch!

The baseball mobile was an idea I found online, but they were selling for $80!! I was able to make this from 2 mini bats at Sports Authority and the balls from Party City for MAYBE $15!! LOVE the way it turned out :)

The little diaper cover and hat were handmade by another shop on Esty, Mad Hatter Knits Co., who also made Blake's newborn sock monkey outfit as well!

These book cases I found from Ikea, they are the Expedit book case. I saw an idea to lay one down the long way and put the others on top vertically. It JUST so happened that they fit PERFECTLY around the window :) Lots of storage and also room for some untouchables to put towards the top! 

I learned that Hobby Lobby is DEFINITELY the place to find vintage baseball accessories!

Window seat cushion made by a dear friend! It just warmed up the room by adding an extra place to sit, or for Blake to pound on :)

Love the red chevron print throughout the room!

Here is a mostly complete final picture of the room! The only thing I have left is to hang up some paper lantern baseballs and red pom poms in place of a mobile. I found with Blake that he just rips the thing off the crib :) 

Hopefully Brody will like his room as much as his mommy does :) Dustin is constantly saying that Blake is going to be sad he didn't as "cool" of a room when he was a baby :) Trying to keep the siblings equal, we actually spent about the same dollar amounts between remodeling both nurseries, but with Brody's it helped immensely having been given the crib of course. 

The Stork's Newest Arrival ~ Brody Jack Mitchell (b. 2/28/2013)

It has been only 11 days since our life was forever changed AGAIN with the cutest little peanut! It has been a whirlwind of 11 days, but we quickly realize we are BEYOND blessed.

Brody's Birthday Story~

It was 2AM on the morning of the 28th of February (Thankfully not a leap year!) and I started having contractions. I was induced with Blake so I never really knew the feeling of having contractions on my own... needless to say I was laying there thinking "these aren't SOO bad...whats the fuss all about!?" and then they started coming quicker and quicker! I jumped out of bed and got my phone to use my contraction timer app...don't you LOVE the world we live in now?? NO guessing! I could even provide my doctor with a list of each contraction if needed :) Dustin was sound asleep...I guess he was used to my 1am and 4am potty visits he didnt think anything of it. I noticed the contractions were about 6 minutes apart or so. Mind you, 2 days prior the doctor had said that I was already dialated 3cm!

I woke Dustin up and of course he's all "is it time!?!?!?" and starting to freak out... I called the on call doctor and of course they suggested to just come on in. I took my sweet time getting ready, took a shower, picked up the house a little bit... I guess the second pregnancy you feel like a professional and in no rush :).  By 6am we headed out the door and got to the hospital around 6:30am. Went up to labor and delivery and they basically said unless there were any changes to your cervix they would send me home. I DESPERATELY wanted mr. Brody OUT! I had been pregnant for nearly 2 years straight...maybe that was why?? I tried everything to get things moving, drank a TON of water, walked for an hour...Dustin was such a good sport walking up and down every hallway on the L&D floor for an entire hour :). Finally we were done, went back to get checked and my doc finally paid me a visit! She wasn't sure obviously where I "started" when I came in so she wanted me to wait for a couple more hours. I was SURE I was going to have to go BACK home and wait out this little guy for a few more days... time passed...waited for my doc to come back and about 3 hours later (around 11am) she showed up! Thankfully she came in the room by herself and secretly asked me if I wanted to have the baby THAT day or wait until the 5th (my induction date). I immediately said I wanted him out...I served Brody the eviction notice around noon that day when she broke my water :) No turning back now!!

I got the epidural just before they broke my water and just like with Blake my labor progressed REALLY fast after the epidural. I had about 2 hours of painless contractions until they were about 2 minutes apart. I started feeling a bunch of pain so I had the anestesia nurse pay me a visit. She adjusted the dosage on the epidural and viola! no pain! but OUCH lots of pressure!! She said she would come back in 30 minutes to make sure the pain had subsided.... she literally came back 30 minutes later and Mr. Brody had already made his appearance into this world! It was amazingly fast, just like I felt my pregnancy went (ok well except for the end part!), and these last 11 days! I had just 2-3 pushes and the little guy was SHOCKED to be kicked out I think because he didn't want to breathe for a good minute or so. Such a scary feeling, but I had 100% faith in all of my wonderful nurses and my doctor. Heard that first cry and was immediately relieved that we, Dustin and I, brought another healthy baby boy into this world. Simply. Amazing.

Brody weighed 8.2#'s and was 22 in long and was born at 3:51pm! What a doll and check out that mohawk!

Blake meeting his little brother for the very first time. He wasn't too cool with it, but now if you ask him where his baby brother is he looks over at Brody and smiles :) Just melts my heart!

 

 

What a precious moment I captured...what you DIDN'T see is Blake taking Brody's hat off and taking out his pacifier HA!

GOING HOME!!

1 Day old

11 Days old!

My Boys... Blake always wants Brody's bottles though :)

Daddy's Little Man :)

Brody - my wish for you is to live life to its fullest, know how much you are loved each and every day and never forget the roots from which you came from. We love you SO much and couldn't imagine our world any differently...even if you did come into our lives sooner than we had imagined.